10 Cell Transformation Induced by Adenoviruses

Abstract

In 1962, Trentin and his colleagues (Trentin et al. 1962) reported that malignant tumors are induced when newborn hamsters are inoculated with human adenovirus 12. Realization that this common human virus should be classified along with polyoma virus and SV40 as being oncogenic had momentous consequences. Ideas then current about developing a vaccine against adenoviruses for the mass vaccination of civilian populations were promptly dropped, and the adenoviruses rapidly attracted the attention of those seeking experimental systems with which to study cellular transformation as a model of tumorigenesis. It soon became apparent that the range of interactions between adenoviruses and host cells paralleled those of polyoma virus and SV40. For particular serotypes of adenoviruses, cells may be permissive, semipermissive, or nonpermissive, depending on their species: it is cells of the latter two categories that are susceptible to transformation by viral particles.

SEMIPERMISSIVE AND ABORTIVE INFECTIONS
Whether an adenoviral infection is productive, incomplete, or abortive depends on the type of cell and the serotype involved. At the present time, we have no knowledge of the factors that cause dissimilar consequences when different cells are infected with the same virus. Human adenoviruses, for example, replicate inefficiently in some types of monkey cells, but coinfection with SV40 enhances the yield about 1000-fold (Rabson et al. 1964b; Friedman et al. 1970), Simian adenoviruses (Naegle and Rapp 1967; Alstein and Dodonova 1968), adenovirus-SV40 hybrids (Rowe and Baum 1964) and an unidentified agent termed MAC (Butel and Rapp 1967) can also act as helpers. It is...